Shoe-last.



w FOWLER.

SHOE LAST. APPLICATION FILED JUNE I8. 1915.

PatentedMar. 5,1918.

MMCW

Mo wax) UNITED STATES PATENT oEEroE.

WILLIAM FOWLER, OF CINCINNATI, OHIO, ASSIGNOE, BY MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO

UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A. CORPO- RATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SHOE-LAST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 5, 1918.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM FOWLER, a a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the city of Cincinnati, in the countyof Hamilton and State of Ohio, have invented c rtain new and useful Improvements in S hoe-Lasts, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification,

My invention relates to lasts and is particularly useful in relasting turn shoes. In the shoemaking art, turn shoes are those where the uppers are first sewed wrongside" out and lasted and then turned rightside out and relasted before being made up, and there is great di'lliculty in getting the last into a turn shoe the second time. The fit of the last must naturally be a tight one and hence it requires a great deal of force to push the last into the sewed upper. The resultant straining of the upper is very often damaging to the shoe, and particularly in low cut shoes is the upper and its binding liable to become torn or broken. Aside from this, the lining is pushed along with the last as it is forced in, and thereby crowded into the toe. This crowding has to be straightened out and smoothed, which takes considerable time, and even then it is not always possible to remedy the wrinkles in the lining.

My invention has as its principal object the remedying of these diificulties, and this object I accomplish by certain constructions and arrangements of parts to be hereinafter more specifically pointed out and claimed, whereby the last is so constructed that it can. be inserted in the shoe in sections in such a way as to relieve the strain and eliminate the wrinkling of the lining.

The invention will now be described in connection with a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the drawings, in which,-

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the last, with its two parts separated.

Fig. 2 is a top plan view of the main section of the last; the part thatis first inserted into the shoe in the relasting operation.

The last is made up of two parts, althou h it could be further divided if desired, 1'. e main portion 1 and the section or block 2. This block 2 is cut from the forward portion of the originallast by a out exactly on the arc of a circle. Accordingly the abutting surface 3 of the main portion, and 4 of the section or block, are on the same radius and will lie flush with each other in all positions, so that the block can be slid along the main portion without bein raised up from it at any point. The block is cut clear to the toe for a purpose to be noted hereafter, terininating above the line of the sole of the ast.

A slanting hole 5 is formed in the block, and a slanting dowel 6 inserted in its contact surface. A socket piece 7 is set' into the main portion and in this piece is placed the usual spring pin 8 employed in sectional lasts. Also cut into the main portion of the last is a long groove 9 of the same width as the dowel, said groove terminating in asocket 10 at its forward end to receive the dowel, said socket being formed at a slant for this purpose.

In inserting the last in the turned shoe, the main portion is first inserted, which is an easy operation because it is cut away clear to the toe and the strain is relieved at the forward end of the shoe. The block is then placed against the main portion and pressed down flush with it so that the spring pin is depressed, and the dowel is lying at the upper end of the long groove. In view of the fact that the abutting surfaces are on the same are of a circle, the block may then he slid into place without once leaving the surfaceof the main portion of the last,

and will not jam or strain the upper in any way, because it is an exact fit and at no time is raised away from the portion of the last v already in the shoe.

When the dowel has reached the socket at the end of the groove and is ready to snap into this socket, the spring pin will snap into the hole in the block, thus retaining the block on the last by two opposing slanting members. The groove being long and of the same size as the dowel will guide it smoothly and perfectly, and prevent any sidewise movement of it so that jamming laterally is avoided, and slipping out of lace during insertion is done away with. I he placing of the dowel on the block also gives the operator much better guidance than if the dowel were on the main portion.

To remove the block from the last, a suitable tool is inserted in the upper end of the hole 5 and the spring pin pressed down out of engagement with the hole, when the block may be easily lifted off.

Having thus described my invention, What I claim as new and desire to secure by LetteI's Patent, is:

n A shoe last having a block restin on a bed formed in the main portion of tie last by a cut extending from the cone to the end of the toe substantially on the arc of a circle, the block having a dowel and the main part of the last having a socket arranged to receive the dowel when the last is in assembled position, the main part of the last having also a channel of substantially the same width as the dowel and extending from the socket backwardly for a distance as great as the movement of the block in sliding to assembled position in a turned shoe, whereby the dowel may guide the block in continuous contact With the circular bed during such entire movement, and means for locln'ng the block in assembled position.

WILLIAM FOWLER 

